To compare the effectiveness of treating malnourished children in different centers, the authors believe there is a need to have a simple method of adjusting mortality rates so that differences in the nutritional status of the children are taken into account.

The authors compared different anthropometric indices based on weight and height to predict the risk of death among severely malnourished children.

Anthropometric data from 1,047 children who survived were compared with those of 147 children who died during treatment in therapeutic feeding centers set up in African countries in 1993.

The receiver operating curves (sensitivity vs. specificity) showed that the body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m) 2), optimal ratio of weight to height, and weight/height index expressed as the percentage of the median of the National Center for Health Statistics'standard were equivalent and superior to the weight/height index expressed as the z score of the National Center for Health Statistics'standard to predict death. (...)